A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of internal combustion engines, and more specifically to a tool that is used to remove a fuel injector from the cylinder head of an engine.
B. Description of Related Art
Locomotive and other machinery with large diesel engines have fuel injectors that inject fuel into a highly pressurized combustion chamber just before a controlled explosion of that fuel. The injector is typically located in a cylinder head of the motor and a tight sealing relationship must be attained between the injector and the cylinder head to prevent the pressurized gases in the combustion chamber from leaking past the fuel injector. Therefore, the fit between a bore in the cylinder head for the fuel injector and the fuel injector is typically quite close. An O-ring normally assists in providing the seal.
After they have been service for an extended period of time, the fuel injectors require replacement. However, with use, the fuel injectors require considerable force to be removed from the cylinder head because the o-ring becomes hard with time and carbon deposits build up upon the fuel injector and cylinder head and serve to bond the cylinder head and fuel injector together.
In the past, different tools have been used to remove the fuel injectors from the cylinder head with varying results. Before the present invention, the best method of removing the fuel injectors was to thread a slide hammer onto the end of the fuel injector to remove the fuel injector. A slide hammer is essentially a large weight, in a form that can be gripped by a user, with a bore in the center. A long rod is inserted through the bore in the weight and the rod further comprises a rod head that will not extend through the bore of the weight. The user attaches the end of the rod to the fuel injector and repeatedly slams the weight against the rod head to remove the fuel injector.
As can be understood, a slide hammer requires a great amount of force to be exerted by the operator. Accidents with slide hammers are common, such as pinched and broken fingers and injuries from operators losing their balance while operating the slide hammer. Additionally, considerable time may be required to extract stubborn fuel injectors from cylinder heads and, in some instances, the slide hammer simply cannot exert enough force to remove the fuel injector and the entire cylinder head must be removed and replaced, which is a time-consuming and expensive operation.